68 THE, CUR.R.eNT CINeMA 1 lze Groceries of Sex " E SEX Sf-lOP," written and di- rected by Claude Berri, stars Berl i as a trudging young hus- band named Claude. He has a floppy wisp of forelock on a head like a coco- nut, and a quizzical hopelessness about his love life, although he adores hIS pret- ty and interesting wife, named Isabelle (J uliet Berto), and his two sn1all sons. (The children have Carolean hair that lets thell1 pIa) gleeful tricks on grown- ups about being sisters.) [n bed, with Isabelle starting to 1110ve over to his side, CLulde lies against the pilJows 'with his arlns desolately in his Llp <:lS though he were <:t knitter beaten bv tUl ning the heLl of a sock. He quietly despairs of hilnself. They are already a tired little old couple, they agree, turning off the light. In a funnily bemused 11100d, Claude goes to work as the boss of s0111ething called Le Sex Shop. The name is flashed out in neon above the shop, letter by letter, like stock quotations. 'The 111el- ., b= t " '.... ,.. , f. ,'" ):. . < chandise within is dll1azing. The place h.1S e1 presull1ably unrivalled line of chas- titv belts and of breastplates that have windows here and there They are lnodelJed at a wholesaler's by a decorous gIrl who walks around with a Cal din look in a series of what seeln to be ex- pensively accessorized plowshares. The designer for the firll1, a lugubrious, prac- tical man, keeps pointing out that such and such a piece of erotic arll10ry is "functional," as if that were the virtue 1110St devoutly to be wished in his unique line of country. The shop also sells a vast stock of sex gadgetry and books on fetishism. Custoll1ers of scholarly face browse through the textbooks in a glaze of diligence, reading for hours without buying. .LL\.n elderly sage spouts knowl- edgeably about the possible forll1s and percentages of aberration. The adag of the shop is that love is a science. if men are gOJng to the lnoon, after a11, seX can't be standing still. All10ng oth r 111anuals, It offers one explaining seri- /f <'I must go dOV'v'n to the seas again) to the lonely sea and the sky) A nd alII ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by) And alII want tS the down payment on the shtp 1 am buytng) And easy credit) and the seagulls crying.)-' ously that it takes two to undress prop- erly. (This advice causes havoc in Claude's hOll1e. Isabelle, unaccustomed to hapless help with her fastenings, ob- viouslv thinks he is going bonkers. ') The crevasse between domestic life and work widens. Claude does his best to assimilate pieces of exquisitely obvious advice in the sex literature. ("Nothing upsets a WOll1an so 111 uch as to find that her ll1an is still wearing his socks and his undershirt.") The custoll1ers exhibit a funny painstakingness about theÍl huys, as if they were doing comparative shopping. A woman wIth a churchly atll10sphere about her says to the hero, "Excuse me, do you have books on rubber fetishism?" Some of the male customers look like ll1embers of the Académie Goncourt. Claude ell1its a baffiell1ent about people who like turn- ing love into s0111ething difficult, though he is, of course, grateful for their tradt:. You feel that he is in the position of a vegetarian butcher. At home, he finds hitTlself a growIng ell1barrassll1ent to his in-laws, who had never expected their daughter to ll1arry into all this; at work late, he assiduously takcs a tele- phone call froll1 two eager groupies while he is ll1unching a roll. The fi]111 constantly shows the space clge of sex getting 111 uddled with, for instclncc, old-style telephone calls home froll1 half- 1110dernized 1110thers who are anxious to know whether the children have eaten their cereal. A bartender at an eÀ- trell1el} liberated night club, where not ll1any people wear ll1uch and almost everyone engages in complicated ges- tures toward lovell1aking, complains of having a tooth that is killing hin1. Claude, in the helr, appeal ing C011- cussed by a surpl iSL hè can't elltogethel conceal, tries hard to be eln acceptable Inell1ber of the club's jolly activities but doesn't like everybody's looking. Back elt the shop, S0111E' other del}, a stelrk-l1elked author irritably autographs copies of her new hook. Hookers bu) ing thc thing elsk her, to hcr dowclgerly 111cll- content, if she wrote it hcrself or h leI it ghosted. I nevcr saw an) one les like a ghost. F ell d b} apparatus and 111isprision, Claude nevertheless goes on tr) ing. I-Ie continues to experiment with the scx- crazed outsidc world in the interests of happiness at home, though glitting his teeth and wanting his wife. Hc even has a go with a m"cnage l trois, which becoll1es overfull of the third memher of the formal-lnannered group of str dn- gers. 'The additive is a jovial Ger111cll1 girl who eats delicatessen food 111 bed. rhus does rOlnance not flourish-not in Claude's fond, befuddled heart. He wants the girl he 111arried, even if she